AN: PRESENT
It wasn't long before Rachel's one beer had turned into four. She didn't care though, too caught up in having fun to keep to her rule. The fire was warm against her front and she had Quinn, solid and cozy, cuddled against her back; plus, her friends were there and she'd learned how to cook a veggie dog or two using the small prongs that Quinn repeatedly reminded her were called "hot dog forks" even though they didn't look like any fork she'd seen before.
She was drifting slightly, a half smile on her face as she contemplated shiny rings and Quinn in wedding dresses when Allison broke the easy silence they'd fallen into.
"I think it's story time." Allison sat up as she made her announcement, totally upsetting Ryan's more than obvious plan for stealing a kiss. He pouted with all the charm of a five year old and she giggled as she pushed his bottom lip back in. "Someone tell me a story. Preferably one that involves significant embarrassment so I can laugh at your expense. Ryan? Quinn?"
"Ryan and Quinn?" Quinn repeated with mock outrage, arms tightening around Rachel's midriff as she sat up further. "Are you suggesting we're the only ones with embarrassing stories?"
"No, not at all," Allison replied, exasperatedly fighting off Ryan who was growling at her and had resumed his quest for a kiss. "I'm merely suggesting that you two are the ones who hide those stories - you know, the ones that give Rachel and I unspeakable joy?"
"That's true," Rachel chimed in, playing with Quinn's fingers and imagining a diamond ring on her left hand. "You're all super hero-y all the time."
"Please, I wish. Unfortunately even Superman - that would be me, obviously - gets caught with his tights down occasionally," Ryan argued. He'd finally given up on getting Allison to kiss him and sighed before finished off his beer, frowning when he realized the can was indeed empty.
"Can we not talk about you, tights, and down ever again?" Quinn asked, wrinkling her nose at the regrettable mental picture she'd conjured. "Though that time we handcuffed you to your chair was pretty awesome."
Ryan narrowed his eyes over at her, "I was thinking about that time that guy fell in love with you in interrogation. You remember that? That's the fastest I've ever seen you charm someone without meaning to. And then he drew you that picture, a pretty good one, too. I especially appreciated the enhancement he gave your likeness." Ryan tapped his chin thoughtfully, a smug grin spreading across his face. "I heard he wrote you a very moving ballad in prison. Didn't he declare his undying love for you in court?"
"A criminal fell in love with you?" Rachel shrieked, nearly falling off Quinn's lap when she attempted to whirl around with her usual diva flair. "Is no one immune to your charms?"
"He was insane," Quinn defended, nose wrinkling again. "Out of his mind. I brought him a soda and suddenly I was some angel sent from God."
"Must have been one hell of a soda," Allison laughed while Rachel fumed in Quinn's lap.
"He wrote you a song!" Rachel grumped, arms crossed over her chest. "The nerve. I demand to know his name, I need to see this piece of… music."
"So you can write a better one?" Ryan quipped, raising an eyebrow. "What, like you've never dedicated a song to Quinn? I find that hard to believe."
Silence.
Rachel fidgeted, recalling a long list of songs she'd performed for (or because of) Finn, and the one duet she'd sang with Quinn. One. The first time she'd ever serenaded her Quinn had been shot, and the second time she'd sang to her Quinn had been in the hospital and hadn't heard a single note. Not exactly the best track record. Though she did have a habit of sleep singing, which Quinn got to hear, but that didn't count. Tears welled up immediately and embarrassed, Rachel turned into Quinn, hiding her flushed face.
"Way to go, Marine," Allison hissed, having seen the sheen on Rachel's eyes caught in the light of the fire.
"What? What'd I say?" Ryan asked, confused as to where the happy mood had gone. He looked to Quinn for answers, but his partner was busy consoling Rachel who had all but curled up in a ball in her lap. They were caught up in whispering to one another, Rachel sniffling and Quinn smiling sadly. Then it hit him, "Stuck Like Glue" had to have been Rachel's first attempt at singing specifically to Quinn and that had ended with Quinn bleeding out on the grungy floor of a trashy karaoke bar. The second time Rachel sang some haunting song that he'd never heard before and Quinn had been unconscious in a hospital bed. "Well, shit," he mumbled, slapping the back of his own head.
Allison nudged him with her elbow, her brown eyes silently but pointedly asking that he do something.
It hit him then that he'd brought just the right thing to fix the situation. Stumbling out of his chair, he very nearly tossed Allison's blanket into the fire in his haste to get untangled from it. Cursing his stupidity under his breath he made a beeline for his tent, eyes glued to the ground to try and avoid trip hazards.
"Boy when you stick your foot in your mouth you really go for it don't ya?" he chastised himself. "Might as well ask if they want to have a group discussion about the whole thing. Stupid. Idiot." It took him a moment to find the zipper to the tent door in the dark and he felt like he'd almost ripped the whole tent down yanking at it, but he managed to get inside without bringing the whole structure down. Fortunately, Allison had unloaded the item he was looking for and set it right against the tent wall so he wouldn't have to fumble around for it. He grabbed it and held it lovingly for a second before closing the tent back up and making his way back to the fire.
Quinn seemed to have calmed Rachel down quite a bit, and was now holding Rachel's face and saying something (probably mushy) in hushed tones that had Rachel giggling and nodding.
Settling back down next to Allison he smiled at her and unzipped the soft case, tenderly removing his guitar and running his fingers over the frets. He strummed through a C chord, and then set himself to tuning it.
"I didn't know you could play," Rachel said timidly, drawing his attention back over to her. He shrugged casually, continuing to tune.
"I'm not very good, but I do know a couple of songs," he admitted. "Does it sound in tune to you two pros?"
"Yup," Allison nodded, smiling over at Rachel and Quinn. "He's just being modest, he's good."
Ryan blushed at her praise and played through the C chord again, pleased when it sounded perfect to his ears. "I think we're all set. Come here, Tadpole," he called softly. Rachel reluctantly removed herself from Quinn and walked over to him, hands clasped in front of her as she stood before him. He gestured for her to come closer and she bent down to within whispering distance. "We're going to set this right, okay? Do you know "Your Song"?"
Wide eyed, she nodded and a small smile turned up the corner of her lips. "Of course I do, it's a classic, and if you'd been paying attention, a part of Moulin Rouge."
"It may not be… I know you probably would have picked something different, something more 'you' and a different location, but can you work with this? If you don't want to that's fine, too, you won't hurt my feelings," he told her, searching reddened doe eyes. She bit into her bottom lip briefly and softly touched his bristly chin.
"This is really sweet of you, Ryan. If you're not careful I'll start expecting it, you know. I think it's perfect," she said and straightened back up.
Taking that to be his cue, Ryan started to play, watching his fingers closely, not wanting to make any mistakes to mess up what Rachel was about to do.
He'd heard Rachel sing before, of course, but it was on stage, in the car, a couple of times in her home, or at the bar. She'd always had a voice so much bigger than her tiny body, and he was expecting her to let it loose to ring around the forest. Surprisingly though, when she opened her mouth and started the first verse her voice was gentle and tender, not tiny or shy by any means, but much more intimate than he'd ever heard it. When he risked a quick glance up at her she was looking right at Quinn with an intensity that made him feel like he was witnessing something very, very special.
Quinn was completely mesmerized. Sure, Rachel sang all the time, and she'd heard her croon love songs to Finn Hudson more times than she'd care to remember, and to her co-stars as well, but this was immediately different. She felt like her heart was going to break in her chest or break out of her chest to try and give itself over to Rachel. She had to wonder if Finn had felt that way every time Rachel sang to him. If he'd realized that gift he was being offered. It wasn't just her voice, it was Rachel. Somehow she doubted that Finn had caught on to that. Quinn felt like she was seconds away from crying, hearing the raw emotion pouring out of Rachel, like a hidden message buried in the music.
Unable to keep quiet through the whole song - not with everything bubbling up inside her - Rachel squeezed her eyes shut, tapped into her emotions, and let it go. It was almost like a religious experience for her, when the music got a hold of her like that. No matter what she was feeling or how consumed with emotion she could be, it could all be expressed and pushed out in the music and bring relief. Catharsis. She hit the chorus for the last time and opened her eyes, bringing the volume back down but not the intensity. A few tears escaped and she let them go, smiling despite them when she saw that Quinn's eyes were just as wet.
The last note lingered in the air, long after Rachel had closed her mouth. All four of them were sniffling now, unabashedly swiping at their eyes.
"Jesus," Ryan said, looking around at Quinn and Allison and then back up at Rachel with awe. "Marry me."
"Hey!" Quinn cried and Allison pinched his arm with a huff. Rachel blushed, shyly making her way back over to Quinn.
Rachel eagerly gripped Quinn's outstretched hands but stopped short of climbing back into the chair. Instead, she stood in front of Quinn and waved their hands from side to side, waiting for Quinn's reaction.
Quinn didn't disappoint, beaming a watery smile as she pulled gently until Rachel took the hint and sat back down on her lap. Rachel leaned into her, eyes closed again as she soaked in the feeling.
"Thank you," Quinn whispered.
"I love you," Rachel whispered back.
"Did you hear that Ryan?" Quinn said loudly, aiming a still scary fake glare over Rachel's shoulder at him. "She loves me. Besides, she's not even your type. She's not inflatable."
Allison squinted, trying to decide if that was an insult to her as well, and Ryan's jaw dropped.
"Quinn!" Rachel scolded without any heat whatsoever, snuggling deeper into Quinn's arms.
"I'm going to go ahead and let that one slide because it was pretty good," Allison finally decided, patting Ryan's shoulder consolingly. "She got you."
"I'll get you back," Ryan promised pointing over at Quinn threateningly. "Oh yes, I will."
"Don't pretend to propose to my girl," Quinn fired back, winding her arms more firmly around Rachel. "No matter how talented and amazing she is."
"You say the sweetest things," Rachel all but purred, feeling significantly lighter after singing to Quinn without something catastrophic happening. She'd been afraid she might have been cursed or something.
"Whatever," Ryan said, putting his arm around Allison's slim shoulders. "I have my own incredibly hot and gifted girlfriend."
"Yeah, now you turn on the charm," Allison scoffed, winking over at Quinn and Rachel.
"I can't win," Ryan sighed and bent over to dig into the case of beer at his side. "So… who wants to kill the rest of this case?"
When the last can of beer had been finished off Quinn quickly announced that it was bedtime - before Ryan could get any ideas about the bottle of whiskey he'd also brought out with him - and helped a groggy Rachel up. Quinn's legs had long ago fallen asleep, but she'd had no intention of moving Rachel until she absolutely had to. She needed the closeness just as much as Rachel did.
Ryan doused the fire without warning, plunging them all into complete darkness. Rachel squealed and grabbed Quinn's arm so tightly that Quinn couldn't hold back a yelp of her own. "Ow! Rachel, Jesus!"
"Where's the flashlight?" Rachel wailed, attempting to climb a flailing Quinn.
"Hey, does this remind anybody else of The Descent? You know with the caving and the creepy night vision stuff and those freaky cave dudes?" Ryan asked from somewhere behind them. Rachel went deathly still, one leg around Quinn's hip and both hands on Quinn's shoulders; she widened her eyes as big as she could - because when you're drunk you assume that will give you night vision powers - but only succeeded in making her eyes watery.
She went back to plan B - scale Quinn and ride to safety.
Quinn choked as Rachel's arms wound around her neck and tugged, nearly sending them both to the ground. Fighting Rachel off as gently as she could, she found the switch on her flashlight and turned it on, pointing it right in Ryan's eyes for revenge. "Ryan, what did I say about scaring Rachel?"
"That I shouldn't… Oops," Ryan said, holding tightly to a swaying Allison who merely smiled at them. "I forgot and it just reminded me. Sorry, Tadpole."
Rachel whimpered, clinging to Quinn's back with her head firmly buried between her shoulder blades. She remembered that movie, oh yes she did. It was unbelievable to her that Quinn could actually watch it, claustrophobic as she was. The Descent made her feel like the walls were closing in and Quinn didn't seem the least bit bothered by it.
But, then again, Quinn was really good with dealing with scary movies. She loved them.
Crazy woman.
"There's no such thing as monsters," Rachel told herself, eyes squeezed tightly shut. "Where's the tent? Can we please go to the tent?"
"Just hold on to me," Quinn said and slowly started to waddle them towards the tent, following the beam of the flashlight.
Getting Rachel into the tent was easy enough, because she all but fell in once the flap was open. The hard part was convincing her to change out of her jeans. She knew that if she couldn't get her out of them she'd be woken at some point in the night by Rachel demanding to know why she was still in them. Having heard it before she could imagine exactly what Rachel would say, something along the lines of, "Quinn Fabray! How could you let me sleep in denim! This is not acceptable sleepwear!"
"Rachel, trust me. You'll thank me in the morning, so let's get you into some sweatpants," Quinn said, coaxing Rachel onto her back to tug at her ankles again. Rachel whined, but allowed Quinn to work the jeans down her legs, kicking weakly to assist. It was cold, colder than she'd expected, and she wanted to curl up under the blankets with Quinn and sleep forever. Hopefully the cave monsters would leave them alone.
"'s cold," she complained, pouting and flailing.
Quinn smiled crookedly, thinking that Rachel looked like a fussy baby, and quickly turned to find Rachel's sleep wear in their duffle bag. She found them easily enough and shook her head at the predictably pink, ridiculously soft pants. Rachel was much more helpful in putting those on then she had been in removing her jeans, batting Quinn's hands away and pulling them over her hips on her own.
"Better now?" Quinn asked, tickling the bottom of Rachel's sock clad feet.
"No. Cuddle me," Rachel demanded, only slightly slurring her words.
One beer indeed, Quinn thought with a raised eyebrow. She shucked her coat and dug into the duffle bag a second time for her own clothes. It was cold, so she tried to change as swiftly as possible, managing to tip over onto the mattress in her haste and disturb Rachel who was already half-asleep. "Sorry," Quinn whispered. "You going to get under the blankets?"
"You're not the boss - the boss of me," Rachel sleepily chastised, but still doing as Quinn suggested, squinting unhappily at the flashlight as she raised the blankets and dove under them. They weren't warm, not yet, and she wanted to roll in them to be a Rachel burrito, but Quinn didn't like it when she hogged the covers. "Hurry," she said, pulling the top blanket over her nose.
"Now who's bossy?" Quinn asked but did as ordered, snaking under the blankets and plastering herself right up against Rachel's warm little body.
"I need a space heat thingy," Rachel grumbled, shoving her hands unceremoniously under Quinn's shirt to warm them.
Quinn hissed at the sensation of chilled fingers splaying out over her torso. "How many times have you complained about me being a human heater?"
Giggles erupted from somewhere near them, and Quinn frowned, rolling slightly to glare at the tent wall. "Ryan! Allison! Tent walls are not actually walls! The only thing I want to hear from you two is snoring!"
The sounds immediately died out and then Ryan bellowed back. "Hey, Qball, does it count as an orgy if we all get laid at the same time but can't see each other?"
"Ryan!" Allison shrieked.
"Ewwww," Rachel added, scrunched up face hidden in her pillow.
"I will sneak into your tent, smother you in your sleep, and blame it on SIDS," Quinn threatened, exasperated. "I mean it, Marine. Behave yourself or face the consequences."
"Don't worry, Q," Allison called. "It was only tickling. I promise there will be none of that on this trip. And if Ryan brings up the word 'orgy' again you won't have to smother him, because I'll take care of it for you."
"First you take away the skinny dipping and now you've ruined all my fun!"
Blessed quiet fell again and Quinn dropped back down onto her pillow with a huff. Rachel squirmed closer, and Quinn was sure she'd fallen asleep already until a very groggy voice spoke up in the dark.
"Don't leave me, okay?"
"I would never," Quinn promised.
Rachel's eyes snapped open to a darkness that she actually couldn't fathom. Pitch black. She'd thought that was just some charming expression and had obviously heard the phrase, but now - now she was experiencing it.
Whimpering quietly, she wiggled around, wondering if she could ignore the 'call of nature' and go back to sleep. Just until she could see her hands in front of her face again.
Unfortunately her body was having none of that and her eyes started to water. Next to her she could hear Quinn breathing and knew that she was probably deeply asleep if her movements had done nothing to wake her.
"Baby?" She tried anyway, hoping for some form of response. Quinn groaned and wormed closer, but didn't say anything. Rachel sighed and fumbled in the black hole they were apparently sleeping in to try and find Quinn's head. Her fingers came in contact with soft hair and she started blindly running her fingers through it. "Quinn," she whined.
"No monster," Quinn grumbled, voice muffled by her pillow. "Go sleep."
"I have to go to the bathroom," Rachel whispered urgently. That damn beer, she knew better.
"That's nice," Quinn muttered and rolled over.
Rachel huffed, pouting in the dark. "Fine, but you're going to regret this later."
Throwing back the blankets, Rachel bit her lip and shivered as the cold immediately seeped in and grabbed her. Hissing her breath out through her teeth, she crawled around the tent until she found the flashlight and turned it on, briefly happy that she could see.
Quinn growled, bundling further in the blankets and pulled her pillow over her head. Rachel glared at her, muttering under her breath about unresponsive girlfriends, and dug her cell phone out of the duffle bag. She'd turned it off when they first arrived to save the battery.
Quinn had her phone right next to her, along with her gun, so Rachel felt confident that if a deranged forest animal or Gollum-like cave creature came after her she could call Quinn and be rescued.
After yanking on her hiking boots she unzipped the tent, and with a deep breath for courage stepped out into the cold night.
Semper moved around in her crate and Rachel brightened, moving over to let her out. "Semper, you want to go with me?"
Ever the wiggling ball of energy, Semper leapt out of the crate and wove a tight circle around Rachel's legs. Rachel could barely see her with the flashlight, but she managed to find the leash and clip it to the dog's collar.
"Okay, girl, if you see anything suspicious, bark," Rachel ordered, clutching tight to the leash and aiming the beam of light in the direction of the hilariously named 'comfort station'. Semper stayed glued to her thigh the whole trip, as Rachel walked very slowly, her head on a swivel. The further she got from the tents the more she started to think about all of the creepy movies she'd watched with Quinn. A lot of them featured campgrounds or camping type scenarios. Like the one with the cannibals who tried to kill Eliza Dushku.
Of course the second her brain got wrapped around that thought there was no getting rid of it - and she couldn't see.
"Damn it, Quinn," she swore, breaking into a run when she was steps away from the door. The panic didn't really set in until it closed behind her and she discovered it was scarier inside than outside. She jumped when the flashlight hit the mirror and she saw herself and then she jumped again when water dripped from one of the faucets.
Everything echoed in the concrete room; she could hear her ragged breathing bouncing off the walls and for the life of her couldn't get herself to move further into the cold space. Semper nudged her with a cold nose as if to say, 'Hurry up, lady, it's cold'. Rachel sighed and rubbed at chocolate colored ears. "What if I said I was so scared that I don't have to go anymore?"
Semper snorted and shook her head, dogtags jingling loudly.
Everything was fine and dandy, right up until Rachel was getting ready to leave. A loud bang startled her while she was juggling the flashlight and her pants. Flailing and screeching, she crashed into the wall and dropped her flashlight.
Repeat: Dropped. Her. Flashlight.
The light rolled away from her, right into the next stall, leaving Rachel crouched in the dark, staring at the beam.
"Not happening," Rachel whined, clutching at Semper's collar and wondering how she was going to get the flashlight back before the cave people got her. She was trapped, in the dark, with a dog as her only company.
"Quinn," she said, patting urgently at her pockets. As silly as it might have been, she felt the prick of tears and an overwhelming sense of dread as she fumbled for her phone with chilly fingers.
"Fabray?" A very groggy voice answered.
Normally, Rachel would have laughed at Quinn's sleepy greeting. Almost asking if her name was 'Fabray'. Instead, she held the phone a little tighter and huddled deeper into the corner.
"Save me," Rachel hissed, unable to tear her eyes away from the damned flashlight. It was mocking her, so close and yet so far away.
"Rachel? Wha - where are you?"
"I'm - don't laugh - I'm in the poorly named comfort station. I dropped my flashlight," Rachel hastened to explain. "Will you please come get me?"
In the background, she heard the rustling of Quinn untangling herself from the wonderful safe, warm bed and then the zipper being pulled on the tent. "Why didn't you wake me up?"
"I tried!" Rachel huffed. "You were very unhelpful."
"I knew I should have taken you before we went to bed," Quinn groused back, and now Rachel could hear her clomping across the ground.
"Will you hurry, please?" Rachel pressed the phone tighter against her ear, other hand clenching tightly around Semper's collar.
"Are you that scared?" Quinn asked, and Rachel heard a hint of worry coloring the obvious amusement in Quinn's tone.
"I think I'm still drunk and - and I hate you for making me watch those movies," Rachel scolded, embarrassed. She realized it was ridiculous - a grown woman trapped out of fear in a bathroom - but it really was terrifying in said bathroom!
"You're fine, Superstar," Quinn whispered. "I told you I wouldn't let anything get you."
The door to the comfort station banged open and she heard Quinn hiss out an expletive at the sound. "Rachel?"
"I'm back here," Rachel cried, tearing up again. She just wanted out; she wanted to be back in their little black hole tent home, safe and warm with Quinn... and Quinn's gun. It was stupid, but she really couldn't care less. Semper strained forward, pulling against Rachel's hold, clearly having recognized her friend's voice.
A flashlight beam appeared and in the light Rachel saw Quinn's pale hand reach down and retrieve the other light from the next stall. "Rachel? I'm going to open the door now, please don't attack me."
Too tired to be indignant, she forced herself to stand on shaking legs, cold and more than ready to be rescued. The door creaked open so slowly and there Quinn stood, hair an absolute mess, shoes untied, and holding two flashlights. She quirked an eyebrow and smiled slightly.
"Q!" Rachel couldn't hold still then and darted forward, aided by Semper who was also trying to get to Quinn.
"Confession? I love when you call me 'Q'." Quinn said, holding on to Rachel with one arm and stroking Semper's head with her free hand. "I see you weren't totally alone."
"I know," Rachel said, burrowing deep into Quinn's hold, clutching handfuls of Quinn's sweatshirt. "Some help she was. Semper's a scaredy dog."
"Don't tell Ryan that," Quinn commented, easily turning them back towards the door. "Actually though, I'm not sure you'll remember this at all, so it's probably best not to tell him about this adventure."
"I'm not that drunk," Rachel argued, clinging to Quinn's forearm as they navigated their way back to the tents. She snagged her flashlight back from Quinn and pointed it away from their feet, scanning the area for danger.
"Okay," Quinn agreed in that tone that never failed to make Rachel want to slap her. On the arm of course, but a slap nonetheless.
"Quinn," she whined as petulantly as possible.
"Rachel," Quinn whined back, wiggling her arm free of Rachel's death grip to put Semper back in her crate.
"This isn't funny!" Rachel protested, wanting to stamp her foot but realizing balancing even briefly on one foot wasn't a good idea. Perhaps she was a little more drunk still than she'd thought.
"Rachel, shhhh, Ryan and Allison are sleeping right there," Quinn hissed, pointing at the tent.
"This isn't funny," Rachel repeated at a much quieter volume... with the same intensity.
"It's pretty funny," Quinn snickered, closing the crate and securely looping her arm back around Rachel's waist. "You're not slurring anymore but you're still swaying."
"Don't make fun of me!" Rachel whimpered, headbutting Quinn's shoulder unhappily.
"Okay, no more teasing, I promise. Let's just get you back to bed." Quinn turned her around and carefully walked her towards their own tent.
"I can't believe I miss the tent bed," Rachel grumbled, happily stumbling into said tent and flopping down on the air mattress once Quinn had the door open.
"It'll grow on you," Quinn said with a smirk.
TBC...
